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'The real deal': Why Mississippi State softball season is a case of what could have been

Her heart hurt, but her players couldn't tell. They weren't fixated on her. The Bulldogs were busy in the batter's box, shagging fly balls and going about the afternoon as if it was just another mid-March practice.

It was ultimately far from it.

Junior Mia Davidson smashed two opposite-field home runs in a row before squatting next to senior Lindsey Williams right in front of Ricketts, still seated in the bleachers on the other side of the ballpark's protective netting.

Williams looked at Davidson and uttered two words Ricketts will remember forever.

"Welcome back."

Ricketts had just taken a call from MSU athletic director John Cohen moments before Davidson's big swings, which were a bit of a rarity at the time. The night before the practice session, Davidson hit two homers against Southern Miss. She only hit one in her previous 18 games.

Davidson was coming back into form, but what Cohen told Ricketts made her comeback inconsequential. The NCAA canceled its spring sports championships, including the Women's College World Series, because of the increasingly severe COVID-19 pandemic.

Welcome back... to the offseason, Mia Davidson.

"That got me," Ricketts said. "Yeah, Mia is back and Mia is swinging it like she can. But we're done. That was a big moment for me because that's when it really sunk in."

If the reality of the situation wasn't fully felt in that moment, it surely was when Ricketts gathered her players in left field at the end of the practice session, looked them in the eyes and told them their season was suspended indefinitely.

By her own admission, Ricketts doesn't usually wear her emotions on her sleeve. But she did that day. Her eyes watered and her voice quivered when she delivered the news.

"That's something you never expect to have to tell a team," Ricketts said. "It's never happened in any of our lifetimes, this halting of sports. We've also never experienced this type of global pandemic.

"They all took it hard. There was a lot of crying and comforting of their teammates. It was a very hopeless feeling. There was nothing I could do for them except love them and care for them."

A 25-3 season, one pointed in a positive direction with as much promise the program has seen in quite some time, was over just like that.

It marked an unceremonious conclusion with the only liquids leaking onto the grass being tears of disheartened Dawgs. No Gatorade baths or anything of that jovial nature.

Mississippi State's softball team was 25-3 and just about to start conference play when the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Head coach Samantha Ricketts is still excited for what's to come in 2021.(Photo: Mississippi State Athletics)

'Hey, this is the real deal'

It ended how it started.

If there is any consolation to be had in Mississippi State's softball season suddenly ceasing, then that's it right there.

A shortened season was bookended by two brilliant ballgames for the Bulldogs.

They began the year with a five-run win over Missouri State and finished it with a five-run victory over Southern Miss. The latter will stand as the last Mississippi State victory of any kind until college sports are allowed to resume once the coronavirus pandemic comes to a close.

Maybe that's fitting.

State's softball team was enjoying one of the best spring sports seasons on campus, right there with Vic Schaefer's women's basketball team and even slightly better than the start Chris Lemonis' Diamond Dawgs had.

"They were all bought in from day one," said Ricketts. "They bought into everything we tried to do and changes we were making. I asked a lot from them as far as leadership and accountability. I wanted it to be a very player-led, not coach-fed type of team."

Junior Annie Willis tossed a no-hitter and set a school record with 19 strikeouts against Mississippi Valley State. Eight different Bulldogs had batting averages of .300 or better. Eight different Dawgs had multiple home runs on the year, too.

Mississippi State got it done all over the field en route to finishing ranked No. 25 in Softball America's poll, marking the first time since 2000 that the Bulldogs were ranked in any poll at the end of the season.

"Everything really worked," Ricketts said. "Hitting, pitching, defense. It was all on. It got to a point where everyone was like, 'Hey, this is the real deal. We are a very good team and we're going to continue to play like it.'"

'It was a big feeling of fellowship'

As quickly as the coronavirus itself has spread, it's become cliche for coaches across the country to say the pandemic is bigger than the sports they're a part of.

Being banal doesn't make them incorrect.

The lives at stake and the health and well-being of loved ones is more important than a season ending before knowing what the end result could have been had it played out in full. The two nights after Ricketts gathered her team in left field at Nusz Park made her realize that.

That Thursday, March 12, mere hours after what was the team's final practice of the year, players and coaches congregated at assistant coach Josh Johnson's house for a team dinner.

Friday, the Bulldogs got together for a meal once more at Ricketts' house. That came after everyone watched President Donald Trump declare a national state of emergency together at the indoor facility on campus.

The time Ricketts spent with her girls Thursday and Friday is, in hindsight, priceless. She hasn't seen them in person in one setting since then and doesn't know when she'll get to do that in the future.

"It was great," she said. "It was a big feeling of fellowship. Everyone was together and laughing and just having a good time. Even knowing what they already knew at that time, they still enjoyed each other's company. They enjoyed being around their teammates, the coaches, support staff, the managers. Everybody was there.

"It was just another great moment that symbolizes what this program and what this team is all about. That's taking care of each other and really treating each other like family."

When it got time to leave, reality struck a couple of seniors. They realized it was the final time they'd say goodbye for a while. They didn't know if the NCAA would grant them an extra year of eligibility, and they still don't know for certain. That ruling is expected to be made Monday.

Reports have indicated that it will work in the players' favor. And if it does, Ricketts said her seniors are leaning toward coming back for another season in maroon and white. If that's the case, Ricketts can't wait to get the ball rolling for next year.

Mississippi State hasn't had a winning record in conference play since 2001. The 2020 team was perhaps on its way to shedding that streak. Now it's up to the 2021 squad, a team that will look nearly identical to the one that just indefinitely disbanded.

"We're very excited," Ricketts said. "Everyone kind of realizes how close we were to taking that next step in proving a lot of people wrong who thought we were never going to take that next step in conference. This team believed it. They were ready to do it. The idea that we get to have everyone back to do it again is very promising for us. I think it makes everyone hungry to continue what we did and show people that 25-3 wasn't just a fluke."